Broken
by DramaticSheep
Summary: "Don't you dare die!" - what if Hermione was the receiver of Bellatrix's knife when they apparated to Shell Cottage - AU - hope you enjoy- Updated 22/12/2012 chapter 6
1. Chapter 1

**A/N : I wrote this as a request for my amazing friend Kristen – she came up with the idea and everything, I thought it was really interesting! However it does make the story pretty much AU.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Harry Potter world! **

**Broken**

Ron held onto Hermione as though their lives depended on it, she was trembling beneath him and her fingers lightly grasped the sleeve of his jacket. They were surrounded by death eaters, pieces of metal, crystal and glass were scattered on the floor. Bellatrix Lestrange started forward from the opposite side of the room, Ron felt Hermione grip him tighter.

"You stupid elf! You could have killed me!" She shrieked, in her erratic, high voice. She was wandless, Ron knew, or they would all have been killed by now. Dobby stood between Ron, Hermione, Griphook and Harry, and pulled his shoulders back proudly.

"Dobby never meant to kill! Dobby only meant to maim or seriously injure!" the little elf squeaked.

At this comment, Narcissa Malfoy drew her wand into the air, ready to strike. Immediately Dobby snapped his fingers and the wand vanished from Narcissa's hand, and appeared in Dobby's, who smiled cheekily.

"How dare you take a witches wand!" Bellatrix shrieked, unable to believe what she had just seen.

"How dare you defy your masters?" She spat.

"Dobby has no master." He stated, his tone changing immediately. "Dobby is a free elf!" he shot back at her. "Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends" and with that he grabbed Harry and Ron's hands, and all five of them disappeared from that place.

Ron held onto Hermione ever tighter as they were pulled through time and space, he hoped she was strong enough to make it through the apparition without becoming splinched. With a thunderous crack, Ron landed hard on the ground. He began to cough and splutter, his mouth full of cold, wet sand. He was relieved to know that they'd reached their destination; he pushed himself up and wiped his sandy hands on his jeans, which were also covered in the wet dark sand. It was very windy, and the air was cold and stung his cheeks.

He slowly opened his eyes and let in the sunlight that shone brightly around him, he could hear the seagulls flying lowly in the sky. His heart leapt into his mouth as he realised that he no longer had a hold on Hermione. He gasped and turned in every direction, seeking her out. His eyes fell upon her silent, still form lay upon the wet sand about twenty feet from where he was standing, he ran as fast as he could to her side, as her drew closer to her he realised that she was not still at all – she was trembling violently, little gasps of pain were echoing from her. It wasn't until he'd knelt down right beside her that he noticed the knife; the evil silver knife which belonged to Bellatrix, nestled deeply into her stomach, blood was seeping from the wound in vast quantity, covering the sand around her, covering his hands.

"Merlin!" He cried. "No, no,no!" His hands were shaking just as badly as she was as he reached to take the knife from her.

"I'm…I'm going t-to take it out ok?" Ron stuttered. "It's p-p-probably going to hurt."

Hermione's eyes found his, she looked terrified, in pain, and in love all at the same time, as she nodded and shut them firmly. Ron's right hand grasped the hilt of the blade and after mentally counting to three he tore the knife out of her. Her screams filled the air, gut wrenching, heartfelt – he couldn't bear it. Her hands found their way to the wound, her breathing getting raspy, still as fast as ever. She lifted her hands up and looked at the blood which now covered her fingers, her eyelids began to flicker, she was getting cold.

"R-Ron..Ron, I.." She began. Ron tore a ling strip of material from the shirt which he was wearing and placed it over her wound and applied pressure. Teardrops fell onto his bloody hands.

"Don't you dare die!" He commanded. "Hermione, don't you dare…" he said again, as her eyes closed. His tears were flowing freely now, however he didn't seem to notice. He picked her body up from the floor and scooped it into his arms, and he ran. He ran faster then he'd ever run in his life, his tears dripped onto her unconscious body. Finally he reached the porch of his brother's cottage.

"Bill!" He screamed. "Bill, help me!" he sobbed. The front door to the cottage flew open, Bill Weasley stood in the doorway.

"Ron?" He said, surprised. "What are you – " he began, then stopped in his tracks as he saw the unconscious, bleeding Hermione cradled in his arms.

"Quick!" he ordered. "Get inside, upstairs, the bedroom first door on the left, as quickly as you can!"

Ron strode into the hallway and leapt up the stairs two at a time, he entered the bedroom to the left of the staircase, it was small, only one bed, a chest of drawers and a chair. There was a tiny window which let in a bit of light but not much. Ron set Hermione down on the bed as gently as he could, he then found her left wrist, he felt like collapsing with relief when he could feel her pulse. He looked down at her hand, so small in his – and he noticed droplets of blood travelling down from her forearm, down to her wrist and fingers, curiously he pulled back the sleeve of her jumper and was disgusted at what he saw.

Grotesquely carved, bleeding endlessly, the world 'mudblood' was presented on her arm. How could anybody do that? How could anybody do that to _his_ Hermione? His thoughts were interrupted as Fleur raced into the room, wand in hand, and many magical medical supplies.

"Here, tend to this one first." Ron said, pointing to Hermione's stomach. "She's been stabbed." He said, emotionless. _If Hermione doesn't make it through this…._

"But 'oo has done zis Ronald?" Fleur said, gasping at the deep wound.

"I – I can't tell you that." Ron said.

"Yes you will." Said Bill, who had stepped into the room suddenly.

"You know I can't Bill." Ron said.

"Ron this isn't a game, this is life or death! You show up on my porch, covered in blood, holding Hermione in your arms who looks like she's been _tortured!_' he argued.

"If I could tell you, I would." Ron mumbled, and then turned his attention back to Hermione.

"This will heal most of 'er wounds." Fleur said, as she dabbed liquid potions onto the worst of Hermione's wounds. "But she will need to rest for days, weeks maybe."

Ron nodded, he walked over to the bed and took Hermione's left arm in his hands.

"Can you do anything about this?" He asked, showing it to her. Fleur winced at the wound. She took Hermione's arm and cleaned it very carefully, wiping away all of the blood, cleansing it, then she added the potion to it. It did nothing, it vaporized away instantly. Fleur shook her head.

"Zis must 'ave been done with dark magic." She stated. "I can't heal it. Nobody can, zis is why your brother, 'e 'as no ear."

Ron went numb inside, of course he remember that his mother was unable to heal or recreate George's ear because it had been blasted off with dark magic. The knife Bellatrix has used was obviously cursed or she had channelled her magic through it, the realisation hit him that Hermione would have that scar for the rest of her life.

"What about the stab wound?" Ron asked.

"It will heal with time. It's not like this one." Fleur said, gesturing to the mudblood carving. "'ooever did that wanted to be sure that she would have it for the rest of 'er life." Fleur said solemly.

"Come on." Bill said, taking Ron by the arm. "You should leave her to rest."

Ron barely knew what was happening as he was being dragged out of the room.

"I will let you know if she wakes, Ronald." Fleur called after him.

He sat alone, his legs dangled over the cliff's edge, the wind rustled his ginger hair. He didn't move, he barely blinked, he barely moved as he watch the sun set beyond the horizon, making the sea turn many different colours, then eventually he sat in the dark. He hadn't spoken to anybody since he'd arrived at shell cottage, Hermione had been unconscious for nearly eight hours now, and he wanted more than anything for her to wake with him at her side.

His mind welled over the events of that day; the cellar, the screaming his relief when they'd apparated away from the manor, and his utter terror when he'd discovered the blade of Bellatrix's knife buried deep into Hermione's stomach. It made him feel sick just thinking about it. He couldn't believe how close he'd come to losing her today. What if she'd died? What if he was sitting beside her grave right now, crying into the freshly dug soil, admitting how much he loved her and what a git he'd been for leaving.

It was that very night, Ron made a pact with himself, to never let her out of his sight again, to never let anybody ever touch her again. Even if she didn't want him, he would forever be there, watching out for her, loving her.

"Are you alright, mate?" came a voice from behind him. Ron turned his head slowly, and frowned. Harry was approaching the cliffs edge. Ron stood himself up and met Harry halfway.

"Is she?" Ron asked, hopefully. Harry shook his head.

"No she's not awake yet." Harry said, looking down at the pebbles on the ground, and awkward silence loomed in the air around them.

"How could you, Harry?" Ron asked, emotions thick in his voice as tears began to fill his eyes.

"Er.." Harry began.

"I TOLD YOU!" Ron bellowed, not caring that his tears had begun to fall. "I told you about the taboo!" He shoved Harry as hard as he could.

"I told you not to say his name!" He bellowed, shoving him again. Harry didn't do anything; he didn't even try to defend himself.

"I even stopped you mid-word!" He bellowed, with a final shove, Harry fell to the floor.

"But you said it anyway.." Ron whispered, looking down at his best friend.

"I – I don't know what to say Ron." Harry said feebly, "I'm sorry."

"If it wasn't for you, Hermione wouldn't be unconscious, recovering from a stab wound and have the word Mudblood carved into her arm, which for YOUR information, she will have for the rest of her life!"

"Ron, it was a mistake!" Harry said. "A really stupid mistake, and you have no idea – no idea how guilty I feel, I never wanted Hermione to get hurt, I never would want any of us to get hurt!"

Ron stared down at his best friend, his expression lightened a little.

"You have no idea how guilty I feel, seeing her up there, injured, unconscious and broken, all because of me. You have no idea what a prat I feel like."

Ron offered a hand a helped Harry up off the floor.

"Sorry." Ron said. "I was just, a bit distraught."

Harry smirked.

"It's alright." Harry said. "Come on – let's go see if she's awake yet."

Ron followed his best friend back into the tiny cottage, hoping to the Gods that his lovers eyes would be open, and that she would find him.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N : thanks very much to the following people who reviewed chatper one :

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Apologies for the shortness of this chapter – it just felt like the right place to stop. Next chapter up soon, I promise!

**Chapter Two**

**Nightmares**

**Hermione's Point Of View**

Silence. Darknes. Emptiness. Nothing.

There's just nothing.

_Breathe in, breathe out, in and out._

I'm warm to say the least; if this is death then it isn't half bad. But the pain still remains – surely there can't be pain in the afterlife? Surely this means that I'm alive, the pain being my anchor to the world.

_Breathe in, breathe out, in and out._

Through the darkness I see a tiny spot of light. Slowly but surely it's floating towards me, growing larger as it approaches me – pulling me out of the shadows, only – I'm not me, I have no body, I'm just there, I just exist. Maybe this is my soul, I don't know.

_Breathe in, breathe out, in and out._

Does this mean it's all over then? Have we failed? Am I dead? It frustrates me that I don't have the answers, slowly, softly my questions materialise into a vast red smoke before me – I try to reach for it, but draw back as I remember that I don't have a body.

The boys are probably alone now, I hope they don't mourn for me too long – they have things to do, place to be – in the great scale of things, I'm not very important. I hope that they can move on and forget me.

I think of my parents, the smoke turns blue – I'm feeling sad, I'm beginning to think that the smoke is conveying my emotions. I sigh to myself. How much better off are they not knowing who I am? Now they won't have to mourn for their daughter because they have no idea that she exists.

_Yes_ I thought – _It was for the best._

Silence. Emptiness. Light. Nothing.

There's just nothing.

When I think about how I died I can only see _her_ face – her who was so intent on breaking me, who was so intent on causing my pain, suffering, so intent on killing me. I see her wicked eyes flicker in front of me.

_Breathe in, breathe out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out._

She frightens me, but I can't get away from her, I have no eyes to close. God help me get away. I see her face, an evil smile spreads across it.

_In, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out._

She opens her mouth, and says the words…

'_Crucio!' – _and I breathe no more.

Silence. Darkness. Emptiness. Nothing.

There's just nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N** – im a terrible person, I promised a quick update and its been 13 days! Fail on my part! sorry!

Chapter three dedicated to my good friend Kristen for her birthday!

Also this chapter takes place time wise at the same time that chapter two is happening

Thanks to all who reviewed chapter two:

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**Chapter Three: Forever In Waiting**

Rons point of view.

It was well after dark now – I sat up in the smallest bedroom in the cottage, dimly lit by candlelight at her bedside. Harry was downstairs with Luna, Bill and Fleur. I was grateful to be left alone, at the moment I had eyes for her and only her. My mind was clouded with wishes and prayers for her to wake up. It was all I wanted, all I needed – I would give me life in exchange for hers if the opportunity was given to me, but the truth was that I had to wait – all I could do now is wait, and pray.

I was holding her little hand in mine; it was a lot warmer than I expected it to be which was a comfort to me. My eyes never diverted from looking at her resting body, every breath she took was like a gift to me, just seeing her chest slowly rising and falling.

When I think about all the times that Hermione has saved our lives, just in the past six months, I'm amazed, she got us away from the wedding when the death eaters attacked, she apparated us away from the ministry and when I was splinched she healed me. Even just this morning she saved our lives and helped us escape from the house of Xenophilius Lovegood, without her we would have been caught or been killed for sure by now.

I stifled a yawn behind my free hand – I was very tired, but I was too scared to leave her side. Every time I closed my eyes I saw the image of her lying there on the sand, blood pouring from the wound which I'd just pulled the knife out of, I think that image is going to haunt me until the day I die. To me it seemed just like a bad dream, a nightmare – hoping that when I open my, everything would be ok again, however I open my eyes and see the unconscious Hermione resting upon the bed as a bitter reminder that these horrific things had happened.

I roll up the sleeve of her jacket and take a closer look at the carved word that Bellatrix had inflicted upon her – the eight letters have been carved cruelly, but with care – she definitely wanted to make sure that it left a reminder. The cuts don't look any better healed then they did eight hours ago – I don't know how long it takes for cuts like this to heal without magic, but I hope the cuts don't stay like this forever…

My heart breaks every time I think about the fact that she's going to have that awful word scarred upon her body for the rest of her life. Every day she is going to see it, Every day she will be reminded of the awful torture that she endured on this very day. My heart break turns into anger and I am filled with the sudden urge to grab the cleaning cloth and scrub away at the wound until it disappears – but I know that nothing will ever make it go away, and that she will have to live with it forever. Bellatrix Lestrange would get what's coming to her, I'll make sure of it, if it's the last thing I do…

I squeeze her hand and wonder if she's dreaming right now, or whether she's just lying in the dark, the latter makes me feel slightly uncomfortable so I assure myself that she's dreaming. With my free hand I roll her sleeve back down and cover the carving wound on her forearm, as I do I notice that my hands are still caked in blood, her blood. What an awful thing, to have her blood on my hands, knowing that I can't do anything at the present time to make her feel better. How awful it is to have the blood of your best friend, the girl you love on your hands all day. We are only eighteen, we shouldn't be expected to deal with this, we shouldn't be going through this.

I am pulled out of my thoughts as her hand begins to grip mine, my eyes shoot wide open and I almost fall right out of my seat! Is she waking up? Could this be?

"Hermione?" I ask, hoping that she can hear me. I can tell that her body has gone rigid and tense. She moans a little under her breath. Is she having a nightmare? I wonder – so she was dreaming after all, how do I wake her from this? Is she literally locked in her nightmares?

I'm actually struggling to keep a hold of her hand now, her groans have become louder – If I didn't know any better, she may even be screaming.

"Hermione!" I shout, trying anything I can to wake her up. "Please wake up!"

She's thrashing about on the bed now, I try to hold her still, she's screaming almost as badly as when she was being tortured, it's like reliving the memory. Her screams fill the air around us – There's nothing I can do, I can't wake her up, I didn't notice the tears rolling down my cheeks, I barely noticed as Bill and Fleur came running into the room.

Then all of a sudden, everything stopped. Hermione fell silent upon the bed, everybody in the room stopped in their tracks. My head fell down upon her body. I writhe around looking for her wrist, pressing my fingers into it, trying desperately to find a pulse.

"No, no." I mutter as I shuffle around, feeling for the pulse on her neck instead. This cannot be happening. I grab her shoulders, shake her lightly whispering.

"Please, please, please!" through my clenched teeth.

"You can't do this to me!" I sob, but her body is lifeless, unresponsive, when I let her go, she falls back upon the bed, limp as a doll. My legs gave way from under me and I collapsed at her bedside, her hand still in mine, I grasped it harder than ever.

"Help Me!" I screamed.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N :** Sorry this has taken so long to put up…I only finished writing it yesterday! Happy new year xx

Thanks to all who reviewed chapter 3:

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**Chapter 4 – Awakened**

Ron was slumped on the floor at Hermione's bedside, his hand still holding onto hers more tightly than seemed possible. Ron may have been situated in the smallest bedroom of shell cottage, however his mind was elsewhere. Barely noticing Bill and Fleur dashing into the bedroom, and Fleur pulling out her wand, he sat, eyes vacant as he sank deeper into his memories than ever before.

It was sort of unclear to him when he had first begun to have feelings for Hermione. At first he had plainly disliked her. Had it not been for the mountain troll that had been set loose in the castle then he probably never would have been friends with her. It was his fault that she'd almost been killed that night. It was because of him that she'd spent most of the day crying in the girls' toilets; it was because of him that the troll had been locked in the bathroom with her!

Perhaps he'd begun to like her in their second year of school. He remembered the day that Malfoy had called her that despicable name… 'Mudblood; The same word which was now carved into her left forearm, never to be removed. Why did it matter if people weren't of magical descent? What does it change? It made no difference whatsoever, it made him sick to think about how many of the 'pureblood' families looked down upon others, and if you didn't conform to order you were considered to be a 'blood traitor'

He remembered how the fury have overtaken him that day when he'd attempted to throw a curse at Malfoy, it would have been brilliant had it not rebounded upon him, thanks to his broken wand. It had been very unpleasant to experience and took several hours to subside, although to hear her remark about how it was a really difficult spell to master, had warmed him to his core.

If he was to be truthful to himself, he would have to admit that he was scared for Hermione all throughout second year. The monster of the chamber of secrets was lurking around each and every corner of the school, threatening and petrifying muggle borns. He was always terrified that Hermione would be next, and alas, she was. The weight of McGonagall's words hit him like a lead brick when she'd told them the news. At once he and harry went straight to the hospital wing – and there she lay upon the bed, pale white, stiff as a board and looking terrified. In the following nights he made it a habit to borrow Harry's invisibility cloak to go to the hospital wing to sit with her, so that she wasn't alone.

The majority of the next two years was spent quarrelling and bickering. She was the only person he knew who could drive him up the wall quite literally and still, he liked her. It was never really her that he was angry at, it was that stupid cat of hers that she loved so dearly, he didn't see the appeal, the cat looked as though it had just been thrown head first at a wall. He'd been so convinced that that the cat killed Scabbers – little did he know that if Crookshanks had succeeded in killing the rat, then none of this would have happened, granted Sirius would still be considered a villain, but Scabbers, or Peter Pettigrew never would have been able to help You-Know-Who come back, Cedric would still be alive, Sirius, Dumbledore, Mad Eye, Tonks' dad – there were too many names.

He couldn't believe that he'd missed a perfectly good chance to ask her to the Yule Ball. Of course naturally at the time he would rather lie than express his true feelings. The night his emotions were filled with envy and heart break when he saw her enter the ball with none other than Viktor Krum. He'd realised that he'd overstepped his boundary when he made a comment about the couple. He soon realised that she was extremely scary when she was angry. They didn't speak for a long time, at times he felt very lonely, he missed her a lot.

During fifth year things were a lot brighter, even though the ministry was interfering at Hogwarts, and that horrible hag Umbridge taking over as headmistress. They had initiated Dumbledore's Army, for once they had a purpose, they had something worth fighting for. He'd played on the house team for the first time as keeper, and they'd actually won! But best of all, Hermione had kissed him on the cheek before he'd gone down to the pitch. Perhaps it had helped to calm his nerves, and the frequent choruses of 'Weasley is our king' sung by anyone other than the Slytherins made him smile.

Things began to go downhill near the Christmas holidays. He'd decided to buy something special for her, he'd scoured every shop in Hogsmeade for the perfume, and eventually had to buy it via owl order. Then of course his father had been attacked by You-Know-Who's snake and had it not been for Harry – his father would be dead. So it turned out that all three of them would be staying at Grimmauld Place over the holidays, and when the day arrived, her reaction to her present wasn't what he'd expected.

"That perfume was very…. Interesting." She'd said. His heart sank. So she didn't share the same feelings as him, then. A few months later he found himself and the other riding upon thestrals (which he couldn't see, by the way.) to the Ministry of Magic in London. In hind sight it was a stupid thing to have done, they'd achieved more bad than good and Sirius had ended up dead because of it. He felt bad for his best friend, the only remaining family member that he had left was now dead.

Sixth year had seemed to follow suit to the year before. Perhaps it was because they were now adolescents? She didn't seem the least bit interested in him. He was constantly trying to get her attention – she'd made remarks about how tall Harry had grown over the summer, and how most people liked him because of the scar – to this remark he'd rolled back the sleeves of his robes and displayed the scars on his forearms which he'd received from the grains at the Ministry - she seemed to take no notice.

Also he'd been cast out – Both Hermione and Harry and even Ginny had been a part of the 'Slug Club' – Professor Slughorn could barely even remember his name! Truth be told he was fed up, well and truly fed up, and he didn't have a lot of time on his hands either, with all of the studying and quidditch practice, he struggled to find any free time whatsoever.

So the time had come for Slughorn's Christmas party to which he'd not been invited, but his two closest friends had. Jealousy was not the word, and when Hermione had had enough with his foul mood and asked if she'd be taking Cormac McLaggen to the party, she'd snapped and shouted at him saying that she was thinking of taking him instead.

He thought their friendship would never be mended when he'd kissed Lavender and Hermione had sent a pack of canaries flying after him. He remembered it clearly, Gryffindor was celebrating its triumphant glory after winning a match and in the spare of the moment, before he knew what he was doing, he'd kissed Lavender Brown. Hermione wouldn't look at him, let alone speak to him, he felt awful. His and Lavender's relationship had developed into nothing but a snogging fest, all he wanted was a way out, she wouldn't give him a minute's peace.

He barely remembered his seventeenth birthday. It was supposed to be a special day, he could now after all use magic outside of school, but the only thing he really remembered was waking up in the hospital wing. He'd been accidently poisoned and Harry had saved his life, but waking up to Hermione at his bedside was a nice surprise, she was acting differently now and a few days later he understood why, he was finally free of Lavender. He knew for sure now that Hermione was the girl he wanted. Now that he was out of the hospital wing he'd met up with his older brothers during a Hogsmeade visit and received his birthday present from them.

Fred grinned as he handed the package to Ron.

"To you." He said

"From us." George finished, Ron took the packaged in his hands, it was evidently a book.

"A book?" he questioned. "Are you two feeling ok?"

The two boys snorted with laughter.

"Worth more than all the galleons in the world that is." Said George.

"Pure gold." Fred added.

He took the book out of the wrapping and read the cover.

"Twelve fail safe ways to charm witches?"

"indeed, now you can go about courting Hermione without sounding like a bumbling idiot."

Ron froze – mouth open wide.

"How do you…" he began. The twins laughed in unison.

"Little." Fred said.

"Naïve." George said.

"Brother." They said together.

"Everybody knows." Said Fred.

He remembered when he had left the tent after the argument. It was windy, dark and raining but the lack of heat bothered him not as he stormed away from the tent. He marched to the barriers of the magical protection. He grasped his wand firmly in his hand as he began to turn on the spot – and then he saw her approaching him, he wanted to stop. She was crying, her hair blowing wildly in the wind, he heard her call his name, he desperately wanted to stop turning, but he had start to apparate an if he stopped now he would get splinched again. The last thing he saw as he apparated away from the forest was Hermione falling to her knees on the forest floor.

He remembered how she'd given him the cold shoulder when he'd returned just after Christmas. He didn't mind – he deserved it really. He knew that she wasn't going to give it up, but he kept trying to get into her good books anyway.

Lastly his mind recalled the event of this very day. Four words would be forever etched into his memory 'All except the mudblood', as that horrible witch had said, and then dragged Hermione away from them. He'd pleaded, asking the death eaters to take him instead of her, but they dragged him and Harry away, down the stairs and into the cellar. He'd been beside himself, they could not leave Hermione alone with Bellatrix. Immediately he began to look for a way out of the cellar, pounded the walls until his hands began to bleed, and then he heard it, the scream. It was the worst sound he'd ever heard, full of terror and mostly filled with pain. It drove him insane, he only began to pound the walls even harder. The screams had filled the air, tormenting him with each passing second, until something hit his face, hard almost knocking him off balance.

Ron's eyes flew open, seeing Bill kneeling down in front of him. He looked around the room, the smallest bedroom in Shell Cottage. Fleur was leaning over Hermione's bed. His eyes came back to his brother – they both knelt on the floor. Unaware of the tears that began to fall from his eyes, Bill helped him up and then pulled him into a hug. Bill patted his brother's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry." He said.

The words broke him. It couldn't be true. Hermione couldn't be dead. There was no way, or was he being foolish? Yes she was the most brilliant person he'd ever known, but deep down she was still only human. He breathed heavily, trying to choke back the sobs which were threatening overtake him. He couldn't bear to turn around and look at her. He didn't want the image of her lifeless body to be the last memory that he had of her. What would become of them now? Where would they go from here? Did they have the time to give her a funeral? He wanted her to be buried properly, the muggle way – without magic. He felt sick, and he could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears, his face burning red with anguish, at this very moment he wished he were alone – alone so that he might sink into his melancholy un-noticed.

Each passing second felt like hours as time continued to flow in slow motion. He had sunken so deep into his thoughts that he'd barely heard Fleur's gasp of shock and wasn't brought around until Bill was shaking him violently. His head lulled back and forth as he came to… about to question Bills actions – and then he'd heard it – the sound of breathing, the sound of her beautiful breathing, gasping filling her lungs with as much sweet air as possible.

The sound of it made him collapse at her bedside, grabbing her hand as her breathing calmed and her eyes slowly opened. Ron start expectantly into them, it was like heaven to see her awake. She squinted in the bright light of the bedroom and winced in pain.

"The light." She whispered. "It hurts." She closed her eyes. Bill dimmed the lights and hooked his arm around Fleur's waist as he led her out of the bedroom and closed the door quietly behind them. She now looked up at him, her face weak and pale in colour.

"Ron…" She whispered.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N = ok I'm so sorry this has taken a ridiculous amount of time to upload. Teaching has been hellishly busy lately and ive been jetting between the UK and France quite a lot. So here you are, ****chapter 5, chapter 6 is soon to follow.**

**Many thanks to those who reviewed: ****Iloveharrypoter, ****QuirkyChameleon**** , ****GryffieGirl**** , ****HarryStylesILOVEYOU**** , ****Crismebella**** , ****SheWolf14**** , ****NessFictions , ****Alice-pyon**** ,**** I love Hermione , ****patches11**** , ****Linders , ****rhmac12**** ,**** Emma-and-Eadric-forever, melanie, ****hptwilight95**** , ****Hamster157**

**Chapter 5 – Conversations**

Silence loomed over the two adolescents. Ron was crouched at Hermione's bedside. Her brown eyes had found his and stared deeply into them, as though she had not seen them for a very long time. Faintly in the distance they heard the tide crashing against the rocks on the shore. Hermione opened her mouth as though to speak when her breath caught in her throat and she began to violently cough. Ron flew up from the bedside to the small table next to her bed where there sat a jug full of water and an empty glass, he filled it half full and then placed it gently into her hands and helped her to drink some of the water. She sat up on the bed while he put the empty glass back on the bedside table.

"Thank you." She said. Ron grinned but didn't reply, his cheeks beginning to turn a rose red colour.

"So what happened?" She asked.

"You don't remember?" He asked and Hermione shook her head.

"Only small bits and pieces." She said.

"Well, Wormtail and Narcissa put me and Harry into the cellar, well it more of a dungeon really. You'd never believe it but Luna and Mr Olivander were down there.

"Are they ok?" She asked.

"Luna's not bad, a little beat up but as know not a lot phases that girl. Mr Olivander was in pretty bad shape though."

"Oh no…" She cried.

"It's alright, he'll get better. Fleur is looking after him." He assured her. "There was also Griphook, from Gringotts down there as well. They came down to take him for questioning a little later."

Hermione nodded slowly, taking in all that he was telling her.

"How did you get out of there?" She asked, Ron grinned.

"We've got Dobby to thank for that. He just appeared out of nowhere, lifesaver. He apparated Luna and Mr Olivander here and then came back for us."

"He dropped the chandelier" She said, vaguely recalling the sounds of crashing metal and breaking crystal.

"Yeah, he did. It couldn't have been better timed if you ask me. He bought us the time we needed to apparate out of there. The next thing I remember was landing face first on the sand out there; you landed quite away from me." He said, Hermione was listening with intent.

"When I found out, well..." He began to choke up. "I think Bellatrix threw her silver knife at Dobby when we first started to apparate, but it missed Dobby and it hit you instead."

Hermione was almost not shocked by this, the pain in her abdomen felt nowhere near as bad as the cruciatus curse which Bellatrix had subdued her to for nearly twenty whole minutes.

"How long have I been unconscious?" She asked.

"A while." Ron said. "You-Know-Who has taken the elder wand from Dumbledore's tomb."

Hermione frowned.

"Harry saw it." Ron quickly added.

"Ron, it's a load of nonsense, this hallows rubbish."

"Actually, Olivander confirmed it. Well the elder wand at least." He said. "I'm sorry but you were still out and we didn't know when you would wake up."

"It's alright." She said. "So he didn't know anything about the other hallows?" she asked.

"Nothing." Ron said.

"Well that sort of proves my point."

Ron was almost too tired to argue back, and didn't want to make her feel any worse, so he let it go. Silence overcame them once more. He sat back down upon the chair at her bedside.

"Can I ask you a question?" He said.

"Of course." She replied.

"Well, just before you woke up. I don't know it was like you were having a bad dream or something, you were shouting, and moving about and then we actually lost you for a little while. Bill and Fleur came in and got your heart beating again though, thank God."

This really did take her by surprise. She had _died_? Even if it was only for a few minutes, it was too much to take; perhaps her stab wound and trauma were worse than she thought. After all, Neville's parents were driven to the point of insanity by the cruciatus curse. She was incredibly lucky.

"Can you remember what you were dreaming about?" Ron asked.

"Not really… just colours, blue and red and…" her voice trailed off.

"What?" He asked.

"Her." She said. He knew she meant Bellatrix. Only then did the constant burning and itching of her left forearm begin to cloud her mind. Distracted she pulled back the sleeve of her jumper and saw the white bandage covering her arm.

"What's this?" she asked, suspecting that it wasn't just a scratch.

"Er, hold on." He spluttered as she made to pull the bandage off. "Wait! Don't!" he said, as she tore it away. It was just there, carved savagely into her arm, an unwelcome intruder. _Mudblood_.

She didn't even realize that she was crying as she said quietly.

"Hand me the dittany."

Ron hesitated.

"We've already tried it…"

"Please hand me the dittany." She said again, cutting him off, her voice was unusually calm.

Ron sighed and passed the small phial from the bedside table to her. She unstoppered it and placed a few drops onto the wound. As she suspected, but refused to believe, it didn't work. Her tears began to flow even more as she covered the entire wound in dittany, effectively emptying the contents of the bottle onto her arm, but the potion did nothing, and the excess potion began to run off her arm and drip onto her bed sheets. Her head dropped into her hands as she dropped the bottle and she began to sob uncontrollably.

Hesitating a little at first, Ron slowly pulled her into his arms and she sobbed against his chest. It broke his hear to hear her like this, but there was not much that he could do. This was something which she'd have to come to terms with by herself. Something that she would have to live with for the rest of her life, but it felt as though those sobs were physically choking him.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore and he placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her away from him enough so that he could see her face, immediately her head dropped as though to avoid his gaze.

"Hey, look at me." Ron said, but she didn't comply. Ron shook his head.

"Please look at me!" he said again. Slowly she raised her head and looked at him, her eyes were puffy and red, her face soaking wet from the tears which were still falling.

"Listen to me." He began. "You are the smartest and the bravest girl I've ever met. It may not feel great now but I promise you that we are going to get through this."

"How do you know?" She asked. He smiled and took her hand in his and placed it gently on his chest, directly over his heart. Hermione smiled.

"Because my heart tells me so." He said. Hermione's hand lay still on his chest, and ever so slightly she could feel his heart beating beneath the palm of her hand. So rhythmic, so soft, so calm. How was he so calm? Sighing she lent in against him and rested her head on his shoulder, she was no longer crying, and she felt safe in his arms.

Ron said nothing as the two of them sat on her bed, holding her in his arms he thought that eventually she'd fallen asleep. He cast his gaze over to the tiny window of the bedroom, the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, and he gently smiled as he watched it rise higher and higher into the sky, bringing in a new day.

Eventually the small bedroom was bathed in sunlight. Only then did he let her go, laying her head gently on the pillow and covering her with a blanket and take refuge once more in the arm chair that sat at her bedside and closed his eyes himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello All,

First and foremost please accept my apologies for not updating this fan fiction for over a year and a half. Life and stuff took over, i.e University but all that is done with now. We had a whirlwind year which even including camping in Trafalgar Square, London for the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and seeing Dan,Emma,Rupert Jo and many of the other Potter Cast. Thanks very much for the reviews this fanfic has received in my absence. I look forward to getting this project started again. Many thanks, dramaticsheep.

Broken - Chapter 6

Many weeks had passed since the event,every night he had sat at her bedside, sleep seemed like no issue to him. When Harry had come up with the idea to break into Gringotts, Ron thought he was mad, nobody broke into Gringotts and lived to tell the tale, and with the heightened security they were bound to stand no chance of succeeding whatsoever, or so he thought. Although the heist had turned out on the whole to be a success, they had come very close to being caught, thanks to that fowl goblin, Griphook. Somehow luck had been on their side, managing to gain control of a captive dragon they had fled the scene, taking to the dull grey skies of England during their escape.

The moment they had apparated to Hogsmeade, an alarm had been sounded, sounding almost like a strangled cat it had rung through the open air, echoing as it went, they had been hidden beneath the cloak, which nowadays concealed their heads and torso's but was no longer lengthy enough to conceal them properly. Were it not for Aberforth Dumbledore ushering them into his pub, Ron was certain that they would have been caught.

Being back in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts was nice, even though Ron had a stable home unlike Harry had, Hogwarts still felt like home to him. The room was magnificent, transformed to meet the seekers needs, many canvas hammocks hung from the walls, and their occupants were now crowded around him, and Hermione. Harry had left the room with Luna to sneak up to the Ravenclaw common room. It seemed as though their re-appearance had lifted a dark cloud which had lay heavy upon the other students. Instead of fear and silence, Ron was seeing laughter and joking, light hearted humour was nice to see after the months of drama which he, Hermione and Harry had met along the road.

He smiled and turned to Hermione, who returned his smile with a frown.

'What's wrong?' He asked.

'We're at a loss.' She said. 'Even if Harry finds the next Horcrux, how are we going to destroy it? We lost the sword, we haven't even destroyed this one yet.' She confessed, twirling Hufflepuff's cup around in her hands.

'Yeah, you're right...' Ron said, his voice trailing off. He squinted his eyes as he remembered, back to the night just before they had left the Burrow, meeting secretly in his bedroom, the night that Harry had been an insensitive git when Hermione had told him about what lengths she had been to to protect her family. He remembered that she had done research about Horcruxes, adamant that she had not stolen the books from Dumbledore's office, he remembered the ways she had stated that a Horcrux could be destroyed, fiendfyre, although she had said that this method would be too risky, that once they had conjured it, it would be next to impossible to stop it. He paused, stumped, what was the other one? He strained. Why did the sword of Gryffindor kill horcruxes? What was so special about it? Ron gasped as it finally came to him. Basilisk venom, that was what would kill the Horcrux, the sword was lined with it, and what was decaying down in the Chamber of secrets other than the skeleton of a Basilisk?

'What is it?' She asked.

'We need to go and get a Basilisk fang.' Ron spluttered. 'Down from the Chamber of secrets, remember? you said that Basilisk venom could kill horcruxes, and the sword-'

'Was lined with Basilisk venom!,' She almost shouted. 'Ron that's brillint! let's go right now!' She grabbed his hand and started dragging him towards the door to leave the room.

'Where are you going?' Ginny asked from the crowd, spotting them leaving.

'We'll be back, Ginny, if Harry comes back, tell him we've gone to look for something, we'll be back as soon as we can.' He stated in a hurry, as Hermione dragged him through the door and closed it behind them.

The stumbled out into a dimly lit corridor, it was night time, after all.

'Which floor do you suppose we're on?' Ron whispered.

'Fourth.' Hermione said quietly. 'Come on, we've got to get down two floors, and we must not be seen.'

Keeping as close to her as possible he followed her as the ran through the corridors, trying to get through as fast as possible but also as discretely as possible. The castle was eerily quiet, it was the early hours of the morning though. Ron was terrified they would be discovered, by Snape, the Carrows, or death eaters. They reached the staircase and made their way down the stairs as fast as possible, so much so that Ron almost fell when they reached the third floor. He once again pursued Hermione until she gasped and pulled him behind a stone pillar out of sight.

'What are you doing?' Ron whispered. Hermione pointed to the hallway.

'Peeves...' She mouthed. Although Peeves was a poltergeist and generally wouldn't really hurt anyone, he was well known for causing havoc and creating a scene, if he discovered that Ron and Hermione were in the hallway, he would most likely sound the alarm, alerting Filch no doubt, and it would all be over.

Hermione silently withdrew Bellatrixes wand from her cloak, pointed it at a suit of armour positioned just around the corner from where they stood and whispered quietly.

'Diffindo.' The suit of armour, hit by the spell clattered to the foor, pieces of armour scattering everywhere noisily which was bound to grab Peeve's attention, and sure enough the small poltergeist flew immediately down the opposite corridor to inspect what had happened.

'Go.' Hermione said, and together they ran as fast they could down the corridor and down the next staircase, almost diving into the girls bathroom on the second floor of the school, Hermione hastily closed and locked the wooden door behind them.

They paused for several moments, allowing themselves to catch their breath. Hermione lit her wand, as the bathroom was very dark this late at night. It was the same as it always was, slightly flooded due to Myrtle's tantrums, the hexagonal sink block stood magnificent as ever, but unfortunately the passageway to the chamber was closed.

'Oh no, what are we going to do?' She exclaimed. 'The passageway is closed and Harry isn't here, how are we to open it?' She said, shaking her head' she looked to Ron, who had his eyes closed.

'Ron?' She asked. Ron opened his mouth wide, and hissed, the phrase was long and drawn-out, Hermione didn't understand what he was saying. Ron stopped speaking and all was quiet, Ron opened his eyes and looked upon the sink unit with hope in his eyes. Seconds later each individual sink unit moved outwards, revealing a hexagonal hole in which to slide down into the chamber. Hermione looked shocked.

'How did you do that?' She asked him.

'Harry had to ask the locket to open before I could destroy it with the sword, I kind of remembered how to say it, I thought it may come in handy, and it did. he said.

'Brilliant!' She exclaimed, and hand in hand they jumped together down the chute. As they reached the bottom, dust flew wildly into the air, as the area had lay undisturbed for years. Ron helped Hermione up and she wiped the dust from her robes and took in her surroundings, the dark cave like structure, with boulders and rocks and stones lining the floor.

'There is where Lockhart's obliviate backfired, it caused a cave in.' Ron explained, he began to lead her through the cave, being careful not to trip on the scattered rocks, when they reached the entrance to the chamber, it lay wide open, presumably from when Harry had opened it himself five years ago. One after the other they climbed down the ladder into the chamber itself. Ron took in his surroundings, amazed. After all he had never seen the actual chamber, he had been stuck with Lockhart. The chamber was fascinating, a long walkway cut down the centre of the chamber with giant serpent heads adorning the sides. At the very end of the chamber was a giant statue of Salazar Slytherin, and below it lay the decayed carcass of the Basilisk. It was huge, much bigger than he had ever imagined. Behind the carcass of the snake lay a pool of water, so still and undisturbed. He walked up to the snake carcass, examining the skull, locating the fangs, he reached up and grabbed one, being careful not to pierce his skin, he pulled the fang away from the skull in one swift motion, and the fang came free. He held it closer to his face, examining it. It was sharp and yellowing, his heart was racing. This was their only hope, this was the difference between winning and losing. He turned to Hermione, she had the cup in her hands, she made to hand it to him, but he shook is head.

'You should do it.' He said.

'I can't!' She said, shaking her head.

'Yes you can,' He said. 'I think it's supposed to be you, just like the locket was mine. Don't worry, I'll be right here, I won't let anything happen to you.'

Hermione gulped and placed the cup on the floor of the chamber, she was trembling, she took the fang from Ron and took a deep breath. She lifted the fang high into the air, ready to strike.

The silence was broken as the small golden cup began to tremble on the stone floor. Before she could reach down the pierce the cup with the fang, the air around her became cold, she could see her breath in the air in front of her. A dark grey mist began to seep from the cup, overflowing from the edges and spreading around the cup, rising fast into a large cloud. Hermione was frozen on the spot, the fang held tight in her right hand. Two figures emerged from the cloud, silent and unmoving, they appeared to be lay on the floor, hand in hand. Hermione gasped, her parents lay dead upon the floor. Everything she had done, the lengths she had gone to protect them had been all for nought. Suddenly, the dead husband and wife got up from the floor, undead they stared at their daughter.

'This is your fault.' He father said, his eyes were coal black. 'You left us alone to die, you abandoned your family.' Hermione's bottom lip trembled.

'I'm sorry...' She cried. Her mother laughed.

'Sorry? You are not sorry, you never cared about us, you don't love us.' She sneered.

'Hermione, don't listen to it, it's lying to you!' Ron shouted from beside her, but she did not hear him.

Suddenly, her father disappeared, and her mother changed, she grew taller, her hair became dark with wild curls. This new woman smiled widely at Hermione, and cackled like a crazy woman.

'Worthless little mudblood, scum of the earth. I bet you wish I'd killed you when I had the chance.' Bellatrix taunted Hermione smiling even wider. Suddenly the scar on her right arm began to burn violently, she looked down towards her arm, the word that hard been cruelly carved into her arm by Bellatrix oozed red, the scar was cut open fresh, almost deeper than the first time. Hermione screamed as blood began to drip from her arm, splattering on the stone floor around her. Bellatrix cackled. It had awoken a rage within Hermione, a rage which she did not know she could possess, she ran forward, her arm stretched high and with all her force she stabbed the cup with the fang. Bellatrix disappeared with a scream, the cup turned black and shrivelled.

Before they could stop to take it in, there was a deep rumbling which echoed around the chamber, Ron looked at Hermione, terrified. A huge wall of water rose from the pool which lay beyond the snakes carcass, as it rose higher it began to travel towards them, they turned and ran, but the water caught them before they got even two feet away. Ron held his breath as he slipped beneath the water, it was ice cold, its sheer force was enough to throw him around, bashing him into walls. He looked around wildly for Hermione. Amongst the floating snake bones he could not see her. Where was she? She had been right behind him. He swerved quickly out of the way of a giant snake bone and he saw her, floating unconsciously near the chamber floor. He swam down as fast as he could and grabbed her, he placed her arm over his shoulder and swam up with the rising water, he swam through the cave and up the chute which they had slid down on the way in. When he came up above the water he gasped as the air rushed into his lungs, he couldn't get enough of it. They were back in the girls bathroom, Ron rolled hermione onto the bathroom floor, out of the way of the sink units. Once out of the way the sink unit automatically moved back into a closed position, sealing the water below and preventing it from flooding the bathroom.

He was shivering, both of them were soaked to the skin. He scrambled over to her unconscious body, and shook her slightly. He could only assume that she had hit her head on one of the chamber walls as the water had pushed them around.

'Hermione, come on love, wake up.' He said, shaking her. She began to cough violently, water spilling from her mouth, she must have swallowed a lot of it. She was gasping for breath, grasping at Ron's wet jumper.

'Ron.' She said, out of breath.

'It's okay, I'm here, you did it.' He said, he held a basilisk fang in his hand to show her. She sat up, relieved, she looked into his eyes, amazed that they had survived all of this, instinct took over her body, and she threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around Ron's body, she kissed him deeply, kissed him as though he had been away and she hadn't seen him in years, She was pleasantly surprised when Ron kissed her back too, he picked her up, and held her close, not wanting this moment to end. He put her down and she withdrew, smiling at him, he smiled back at her. He noticed the blood which now stained her right sleeve.

'Oh.' he said, taking her right arm and pulling the sleeve back, the wound was still bleeding, but not as badly as before. 'Come on,' He said, 'Let's fix you up.' He took her hand in his and led her out of the bathroom. Although in a weary daze, Hermione couldn't stop smiling, he was hers.


End file.
